Healthy Competition
by Yojimbra
Summary: Pro Hero Deku gets invited to the first I-Island Expo since that attack years ago. At first he meets Melissa Shield, and then randomly encounters Mei Hatsume. Both girls want to make his next hero costume, but is that all they're after? DekuMeiLissa
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, is that?"

"Woah, it is!"

"I can't believe he's here."

"What? why? The Expo is next week, of course, he'd be here!"

"I thought he'd be taller."

There was little Izuku could do but laugh as they stepped out of I-Island's airport terminal. He had arrived a week early at the request of Melissa, and even a few other scientists and researchers that wanted his attention. Maybe this was what All Might felt like when he first showed up back in the day.

Shaking his head he moved forward, waving at those that noticed him while he walked through the crowds. And it was only going to get busier as the expo closed in. "I wonder who else will be here? Shoto probably, Momo for sure, maybe Kacchan? Depends on if they want to deal with the potential property damage. Again."

Still, the island looked great, all the repairs had been finished years ago but this was the first year that they were doing the Expo, no doubt there were going to be even more amazing gadgets here this year. Maybe he could even get a few more for himself. His supply was running low ever since Mei all but vanished off the face of the earth.

It wasn't even in a fireball, which meant that he had lost that bet with Ochako.

Humming he kept his smile on his face and nodded at another researcher that had recognized him. "Best not to think about my ex."

It had only been a year and a half and the sting was still there, just not as painful. Probably because he hadn't really tried to date anyone since they had tried and failed to make things work. And he was thinking about it again. Dammit. He really needed a distraction or something.

"Deku!"

He looked up and what he saw put a smile on his face. It was her. Melissa Shield. She was riding in on what looked like a red hoverboard that was attached to her feet. Somehow despite looking like a grown woman when he had first met her all those years ago, she had grown even more beautiful. Her once long blonde hair was now short, barely reaching past her shoulders and just made her look that much more mature.

She was beautiful, and he was lonely.

Shaking his head Izuku smiled and opened up one arm for her. "Melissa!"

Without hesitation, she took the invitation landing on her feet as she retracted her hoverboard into a wrist band and gave him a hug. She was soft and her hair smelled absolutely wonderful. After a moment she pulled away.

"Deku! It's been way too long," She placed a hand on his chest and smiled at him. They hadn't spoken since All Might's funeral. At least not in person. But the bond was still there. "How've you been? Aside from being in the top five for two years in a row?"

"I've been good, really good, how about yourself? You look like you've been busy." He gestured towards her wrist band. "And I-Island looks great."

"Yea! It's been going pretty good! I have my own lab now and I can't wait to show you some of the new-" Melissa was all but bouncing with excitement as she pointed to the other side of the island where her lab was. But she was interrupted by an explosion that nearly shook the whole Island.

Seriously were they under attack? He just got here! And the Island had just reopened! Some villains better not have gotten any ideas about attacking the Island, not while he was here.

"Not again," Melissa sighed.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it." He dropped his bag next to her. "I'll be back in a second."

"Huh?" She asked looking at his bag. "Wait what-"

He launched forward, he'd apologize to Melissa later, but he wasn't a hero to wait for someone else to save the day. The streets of I-Island were wide but he was still able to use the terrain to his advantage as he leaped from building to building trying to find the source of the explosion, most of the buildings were more industrial as he headed towards the explosion.

In all likelihood, it wasn't some malicious assault, but an accident that had caused the explosion. Placing on his breathing mask he leaped in front of the building, several engineers were scrambling out of the warehouse-like building with fire spewing out of it. Most of them looked alright, so it probably wasn't chemical in nature.

"Are you a hero?" A man with large insect-like wings asked, his work uniform was damaged by the smoke. He pointed towards the building. "Please, the Chief is still in there you need to save her."

"Leave it to me!"

Fire rescues were not really his strong suit, mostly because he couldn't punch away the fires without causing more damage. That wasn't to say he wasn't going to run in there and save the person and then punch his way out. Okay, maybe he wouldn't really punch anything.

Ducking past the flames, he found that the building was largely hollow, with much of the fire coming from a central contraption that was quite large and almost looked like a giant robot or something. And scrambling around the base was a pink-haired woman wearing goggles.

Despite the emergency, Izuku found himself stopping to watch the short woman flail effortlessly at her machine. His suspicions were confirmed when he heard her cry about her baby. Well, he found where Mei had been all this time. On the one hand, he wasn't surprised. On the other hand he was surprised that they were willing to accept the walking safety violation on I-Island.

"So this was what Melissa meant by again." With a sigh, he walked over to Mei. Then the machine began to spasm. It was going to explode again, wasn't it? Knowing Mei? Yes.

"Mei!" He ran over towards her and pulled her into his chest, just in time for the robot to explode, the shock wave sending them both flying. The force was too great and he stumbled to keep his feet on the ground. With some luck, he managed to maneuver so that the shockwave would knock them out of the large garage doors.

He landed on his back, sliding a few feet until he crashed into a wall. Mei safe in his arms.

"Well this is familiar." He heard Mei's ever so slightly crazy voice - in both an 'oh no' and a 'that's kinda hot' way - as she leaned up to look at him. She flipped up her goggles and smiled at him like he hadn't just saved her from a fiery death. But Mei had probably built up a tolerance to explosions at this point.

"Hi there Izuku, how are my babies treating you? You want something new? I have a lot of new babies that'll suit you! Oh, looks like you might actually be needing a new suit!" Mei cackled as she began to touch him before actually getting off of him. Her laugh was sweet but mixed in with just a bit of mad scientist.

"What are you-" He moved to see what she was talking about. But a sharp pain ran through his right side. Oh, he'd been mildly impaled by some shrapnel, and that was a lot of blood. He blinked at the wound and sighed. "Ouch."

"Give me a second." Mei sat on his lap in a position that should have been very inappropriate. Pulled at his costume, tearing it more and produced a spray can. When she shook it he couldn't help but picture a can of bug spray or something. "Hold still."

The usual mania in her voice was gone, and she had a serious look on her face. That was perhaps the only reason why he didn't try to stop her. The spray was pink and smelled kind of like strawberries and medicine, it worked almost instantly.

"What is that stuff?" He asked, straining to look at the wound.

"I got tired of going to see a doctor if I hurt myself." Mei looked around her and setting the can down to the side before tearing more of his costume to use as a cloth, it stung less than he thought it would. "So I made a spray-on healing compound. It tastes like strawberries, it's not supposed to but it does."

"You made something that doesn't explode?"

"No, it does, don't stand near an open flame, and don't exercise for a few hours." She patted his now all but vanished wound and smiled. "Also don't eat spicy food."

"What happens if I do?"

"Since when did you start questioning me?" Mei pushed on his chest to stand up and proceeded to dust herself off. Now that he looked at her Mei had changed in ways he never thought she would change, she was actually beautiful now. Under that layer of oil that covered that is. Was there something about I-Island that just made people more attractive or something? "Most of the time when I say don't do something it'll explode they don't ask why."

She tilted her head to the side smiling and offered her hand to him. "It's really handy when I want to be left alone I can tell people 'Don't talk to me you'll explode!'" She helped him up and smiled. "Thanks for saving me! Now let's go to my workshop we can start talking about a new design for your costume!"

"What but I-"

"Deku!" Melissa panted as she ran up straining to carry his bag. He had meant for her to just watch it. Or leave it, it was just clothes. "Are you okay? What happened to your costume? What happened here and-"

Melissa's mouth stopped moving when she looked at Mei, who was still looking at him her mind no doubt coming up with hundreds of designs. A hard frown formed on Melissa's face for a second.

"Well, I guess that explains what happened here." Melissa sighed setting his bag down. "Still it's good that you saved Mei."

"Oh, you know her?" That saved him the introductions.

"Everybody on the Island knows her." Melissa gestured towards Mei who still wasn't paying attention to their conversation. Where did she get the notepad? "She's notorious for causing explosions, and the officials have to raid her lab weekly for new gear to patent, otherwise she just throws them in the corner."

"They don't take up space there." Mei shrugged, apparently, she had been listening. But she didn't appear to be phased. "Hey, what rank hero are you now anyway? I know you're up there last I checked."

"Uhh, I'm rank number two at the moment but it's really close between all of us in the top five." Losing to Mirio didn't sting that much, but seeing Kacchan get knocked down to fifth, that was just so great.

"Perfect!" Mei pocketed her notebook. And grabbed him by the arm. She might be a small petite woman, but he'd seen her swing a two hundred pound monkey wrench around like it was nothing several times. "Come to my workshop! We need to start working on a design for your new hero costume! I already have a few ideas we can go over and a few gadgets you might even be able to use! I'll also upgrade all of your gadgets too! You're going to be equipped solely by me and become the best advertisement I can get!"

"Isn't your workshop on fire?"

Mei looked behind her blinked twice and waved her hand at it. "Nah, that's my garage, that's for the big stuff like my robots, the Europa rover, and, like a satellite. You know, passion projects! I keep the good stuff at my workshop! Now come on. Actually, let's get food first, we can brainstorm over a meal!"

"Uh sure, but I was-" He placed a hand over that large tear in his suit, it had been a few years since he got a new look, maybe it was time for an upgrade.

"Excuse me!" Melissa said loudly, her face was red and she pushed up her glasses. Marched in front of Mei with one hand over her chest. "I invited Deku out here so that I could help him get a new costume, he's my friend after all."

Mei snorted. "So? I've known Izuku since we were fifteen, he's been one of my best customers for like." Mei paused, holding up a hand and counted. "Eight years! Now it's time to return on those investments and getting my gear on one of the top heroes."

"You have?" Melissa took a step back, her face growing a shade darker. "I wasn't aware you and Mei had known each other."

"We went to U.A. together, she pretty much supplied me with all my support items for a while." Apparently, he was one of the few people crazy enough to talk to her, let alone ask her for items.

"Oh, I see," Melissa mumbled holding her chin. "Does that mean that she designed your previous hero costumes?"

"Mostly yeah," He gestured at his current suit with his free hand. "She designed this one."

"Then don't you think it's time for someone else to have a chance?"

"Nonsense!" Mei shouted and tugged on his arm. "The bond between hero and support is not something that you can easily sever! I'm going to be Izuku's exclusive support item provider. Besides, I have more experience with his needs."

Was this what it was like having girls fight over him? Why didn't this happen in U.A.?

"Hey, I have an idea." Both girls stopped glaring at each other just long enough to look at him. "Why don't you two work together to make my costume? I'm sure the two of you would be able to make something great."

Mei's smile grew wider as she folded her arms over her chest and glared up at Melissa. "I have a better idea, we both make blueprints, then Izuku chooses the one he likes best. How does that sound… whatever your name is."

"It's Melissa Shield." She put her shoulders back and extended a hand towards Mei. "Challenge accepted."

"Good." Mei grabbed her hand, her oil-covered glove leaving fingerprints on Melissa's arm. "I work best when I have competition."

For his part, Izuku could only really laugh. This was not an encounter he ever saw coming.

**AN: New story to replace Fist to Fist once I finish it. I've been chopping at the bits to start this for a long time. So I hope you all enjoy! **


	2. Chapter 2

"It's not much, but welcome to my lab." Melissa flicked a switch and the lights turned on while a large window along the back wall also opened up to reveal the ocean. A large assortment of equipment was spaced evenly around the room, and a few gadgets were still in various stages of development. Everything felt so clean and orderly, almost like a doctor's office.

Izuku bit his lip as he recognized this room and the machine that sat in the center of it. This was her father's lab when he came all those years ago with All Might. David Shield was still alive and well, but was still serving his sentence for his crimes that night. Even with All Might's forgiveness and good word could only lighten a sentence so much. At least Melissa had done well for herself.

"Do you have any big projects you've been working on?" He asked walking further into her lab and rolled his right shoulder, it wasn't in pain or uncomfortable but for some reason, his plain white T just felt off. He would have preferred walking around in his hero costume but with that tear, he doubted it would look great.

Melissa shrugged and motioned back towards the door, "A lot of the projects I've been a part of have something on display at the expo, I can give you a tour once it's open if you'd like. But, for now, why don't we check out on your- Mei, what are doing here?"

"I need to talk to Izuku about what he wants and needs in his new suit." Mei shrugged and pushed some of her pink hair back under her goggles. He couldn't help but notice the oil stain on her cleavage as her breasts jiggled under her oil-stained tank-top. She had gotten bigger. If Mei noticed she didn't care. She hopped up onto a desk chair her knees curled up as she did so. "Besides, I'm not going to let you get a head start on our little competition."

"I'm not going to try and get a head start, well I mean I already have a few designs ready, it's why I called Deku here, to begin with." Melissa crossed her arms over her dress vest and let out a pout her blue eyes glaring at Mei.

"So do I." Mei returned Melissa's glare with a toothy grin, that only looked slightly unhinged. "And I've been meaning to contact Izuku for a while. I have some new babies that are going to help him a lot."

Melissa sighed looking so much like the annoyed older sister and turned to him. "Deku, is there any way you can make her leave," she gestured towards the machine next to her, "I'd like to test your quirk levels and I think it would be best if we did that in private don't you?"

He didn't really think there was anybody other than Mei that could tell Mei what to do, and even then she probably only listened to herself half the time. "It's alright Mei, besides I didn't think you could go more than five hours without tinkering on something."

"I sleep a solid six." She pouted and crossed her arms while leaning back.

"And then roll out of bed and start inventing again." He couldn't help but smile sometimes she would sleep inside of her inventions passed out mid wrench twist only to wake up and do it again until the project was finished.

Mei gave a sheepish smile and shrugged. "Yep! My babies need me after all, but I want in on the data about your quirk, I need to see if the power increase has changed or if it leveled out once the transfer was complete."

Wait, did she just?

"Transfer? What are you talking about?" Melissa asked then sighed. "Don't say random things like that Mei, we have a hard enough time understanding you as is."

"Huh? You mean you don't know that Izuku got his quirk from All Might?"

Evidently, Mei was even smarter than he thought she was. Which made her all the more frightening.

"Mei, how do you know that?" He asked calmly, not quite sure how to deal with a situation like this. The only person that had ever found out was Kacchan, and that was because he almost told him. So how on earth did Mei figure it out?

"Izuku? What are you talking about?" Melissa asked, her mouth hanging open as she placed a hand against her forehead.

"I was mostly running off of a theory, but good to know I was right, I mostly found out by gathering data, when I watched some of your fights to uhh, to make sure that my babies were working properly I noticed that your quirk is inconsistent too say the least. I also saw your hero profile, and then your civilian profile where you were labeled as quirkless, then you had a power-up type quirk that destroyed your own body. But that label had to be changed later as it was revealed you had a stockpile type quirk, which led to the question of what you were stockpiling, the simple answer was power, but there was no way you were just storing up that much power by just doing nothing. You were overflowing with it. Then when you started to get additional quirks it hit me. It wasn't originally your quirk, but rather it was a quirk that could be transferred to another person mixing with one that could store power, from there it was passed down through some generations until it became yours."

Mei beamed at him. "It was really obvious."

"Please don't tell anyone else Mei, it's supposed to be a secret." At this point it was so he'd be able to choose a new successor in peace down the line, but that wasn't for a good long while.

"Wait, she's not making stuff up?" Melissa looked pale, and stumbled towards her own chair. "Well, that explains why you were so close to Uncle Might, I just thought it was because you two had similar quirks. Not the exact same quirk."

"Sorry, I thought everybody else either knew or thought the same thing I did." Mei shrunk into her chair hiding behind her knees.

"It's fine, really, I'm not sure there's much of a point to keeping it a secret from people I trust. So I'm fine with you two knowing. Besides, it might help with making my new costume right?" He looked between the two girls, really not sure what he was supposed to do. Mei wasn't bouncing off the walls and Melissa looked unsure of herself.

That lasted all of two seconds.

Melissa shot up. "That's right! My father helped All Might become the symbol of peace, and since you have his quirk, now it's my turn to help you! I'm more fired up now."

"Yea!" Mei bounced up and pushed on his back. "Now get in the scanning machine Izuku! I want to see those metrics!"

"What? Can't you gather your own data?"

"Sure, but I wanna see what your gizmo can do! Like what's it measuring? Potential energy? Dormant energy? Electrons? Muscles?"

He smiled as he watched Mei cause havoc in Melissa's lab just by being there. She was already frantically typing on the computer while buzzing around the device while Melissa tried and failed to stop her. Maybe he could try and get the two of them to be friends instead of competing to make him a new suit?

"This is some neat tech you have here," Mei cackled as the machine began to whirl to life.

"It's based on my father's design, now please, I'll share the data with you, just stop messing with it," Melissa all but begged still reluctant to touch Mei.

Mei giggled and stepped away from the computer, she certainly knew how to annoy people into giving her what she wanted. "After you Ms. Shield. I can't wait to see what this thing looks like in action, I'm already getting a dozen ideas."

"I'm glad I could inspire you." Melissa rolled her eyes and made a few keystrokes. A flat metallic bed with black pads on it twirled up from the ground. "Now please, Deku, lay down on the bed, we'll be able to get all of your data in no time."

"So I don't have to take my clothes off?" He asked sliding onto the ever so slightly uncomfortable bed. It wasn't the first bio scanner thing he'd gotten into over the years and it probably wouldn't be the last.

"No! No!" Melissa stood straight her face away from him. "The clothes you have on shouldn't interfere with the scanner."

Apparently, him being shirtless upset Melissa. And Mei was oddly silent. She was just standing there staring at him without her usual maniac smile on her face. It only reminded him that beyond the crazy and under the grease Mei could easily be considered beautiful. He knew better than to try and ask her out though, he doubted there was a sexual bone in her body.

"Is something wrong Mei?" He asked as the Machine began to hum enveloping him in dull yellow light that shifted to a bright blue and back again.

She shook her head, the crosshairs of her eyes zooming in on him then back out as she blinked back in surprise. "Huh? Oh, yea, I'm fine, just hungry." She placed a hand on her stomach. "I don't think I've eaten since yesterday. Wait what day is today?"

"Wednesday?"

"Oh, I had a sandwich on Monday?" she asked holding out her fingers.

His eyes flew to her chest despite himself and he just had to wonder how on earth those were so big when she ate so little? Was it like a bear with hibernation?

"You really should eat properly Mei, your lack of nutrition is probably what causes your explosions and fires." Melissa pushed up her glasses as the screen began to fill with data. She let out a groan, and stretched, bringing her hands far above her head before popping her neck and bouncing on her legs.

And now he was looking at her butt. Probably not good to get an erection while he was being scanned. Would that show up? He could see his blood type so it would probably show up.

"Hey, how about after this we go out to eat somewhere? It'll be my treat, what do you say?" He offered, looking between the two girls.

Mei winced, hand still on her stomach. "Maybe."

"Won't your girlfriend get jealous if you took two girls out to dinner?" Melissa asked a soft smile on her face as she turned back to look at him. "I remember her getting jealous when I hugged you a few years ago."

Yep, that sting was still there. But it hurt even less than it had this morning. It was probably because he kept looking at Mei and Melissa.

"Considering how we broke up about a year and a half ago, we shouldn't have to worry about her being jealous." It was easier than he thought it would be to laugh at that statement. "Besides you're my friends, and I'm running on whatever was in Mei's healing in a can and airplane peanuts, now come on what do you say?"

"If that's the case I'd be happy to take you up on the offer Deku." Melissa turned a cheerful smile on her face while one hand was over her heart. "I know just the place as well."

"I'm going too," Mei said her manic smile returning. "Dinner meetings are the best place to discuss what a client wants after all."

"Mei," Melissa sighed. "I don't think that's what Izuku had in mind when he invited us to dinner, besides, the restaurant I had in mind isn't the place for that, it's more classy."

Mei shrugged. "I'll wash before we go there."

Melissa looked like she doubted Mei knew what a shower was.

XXXX

Checking his watch for the fifth time Izuku looked down the street for any sign of pink or blonde hair. He was a bit early and Melissa did say that they wouldn't need a reservation before the Expo actually started. But he still wanted to be certain.

He had gotten out a relatively nice dress shirt and the singular pair of slacks he had packed and put them on, he didn't really know what Melissa meant by classy, did it mean formal? Or did it mean don't wear a T-shirt and shorts. Other people looked entering the restaurant looked like they were just as dressed up as he was.

"Is she late?" Mei asked from beside him.

He nearly jumped when he turned to see her standing there. Then he stopped his brain processing the image in his mind. It was Mei. Wasn't it? Her usual messy pink hair was combed and pushed to one side so that it nearly obscured one of her amber eyes, the crosshairs locked onto him. The dress she wore was a simple navy blue that rested on her shoulders and showed off just an ounce of cleavage, around her neck was a necklace that had an atom made of glass jewels.

"That is you right Mei?" He had to ask, he kept looking towards the necklace.

"Why is everyone so shocked that I can dress up? Making a good first impression is very important, besides making a baby that does my hair was a lot of fun." Mei huffed, was she pouting? It was adorable.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just so used to seeing you covered in grease and talking about your newest baby. But you really do look good, I especially like that necklace." He gestured towards it, careful not to get too touchy with her. Even if this was Mei and she didn't know what boundaries were. Chances are she'd have no problem groping him right now. "Is that the one I gave you for your birthday back in U.A.?"

She nodded. "Yep, it's the only piece of jewelry I own, people say it suits me when I wear it."

"I'm glad you're getting some use out of it." He had gotten it for her because of all the help she gave him with his gear. It really seemed like a small thing but seeing her wear it just made him that much happier.

"Ahh, there you two are." Melissa walked up her blond hair was pinned back behind her ears giving her a graceful look, while her simple red dress and splash of red lipstick just reminded him of her outfit all those years ago and how beautiful she was. "You look good Izuku, and you as well Mei."

Mei grunted in response.

"Right, well let's head on in, I'm sure you'll both love this place."

He was loving that he was going to dinner with two of the smartest, most beautiful women he had ever met.

**AN: This story is fun to write.  
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	3. Chapter 3

Where on earth did she put it all?

Mei had ordered the largest steak on the menu and began devouring it along with the sides. His own meal was about the same size, and Melissa's was about maybe half the size, and it was mostly salad and soup. Mei was 5'3 on a good day and probably didn't weigh more than 120 lbs give or take her boobs. By comparison he had nearly a foot on her and over a hundred pounds of muscle and bone on the girl.

And yet somehow, she wasn't making a mess.

Looking back to Melissa the blond haired girl just shrugged, either not surprised by how much food Mei could put away or was already over it. She gave him a soft smile and took a small sip of her soup.

"So," He asked, his knife scraping against the plate. The food was good, and in theory the company was too. It just felt like they didn't exactly get along. "What big projects have you two been working on recently?"

Mei attempted to speak but ended up choking on her food as she scrambled to get a bit to drink. After a few seconds she was okay again.

"I'll go first, I'm sure Mei has a list of projects she'd love to tell you about." Melissa placed a hand on her chest in that refined way that he had seen Momo do several times before. "You've actually seen my largest project which is that bio scanner. I'm working on making it both cheaper and more portable for field purposes. Additionally, I have several smaller support items I'm working on, I've even made improvements to the tech I used in that gauntlet I gave you before."

"Oh, right, that thing was really useful. And uhh, sorry I broke it." That gauntlet had allowed him to use all of his power without destroying his arm at the time. But now that he had greater control of One for All he didn't really hurt himself too much anymore.

"Oh it's fine, it was just a prototype after all. I was actually planning on using elements of that in your costume design." She tilted her head just slightly to the side and closed her deep blue eyes to smile at him. "I'll be sure to include instructions on how to properly take it off."

"My turn!" Mei placed her glass down onto the table with a thud. Her yellow, cross-haired eyes zoomed in on him and her smile grew maniac. "In addition to larger projects like the Europa rover and custom orders for other heroes, I've been dabbling in new tech that'll revolutionize costumes! I'm going to be able to make so many new babies once I finish it."

"Oh! Now what colors are you going to want for your new suit? Do you want to stick with the green and black highlights? Or do you want to mix it up a bit?" Mei pushed her empty plate to the side and grabbed one of the napkins, scribbling away like it was a sheet of paper. He didn't know where she got the pen though.

He sat back and shook his head looking down at his plate and blinking. "I really haven't put much thought into it, I didn't really think I needed a new costume until you two offered."

"I offered," Melissa muttered her eyes sharpening and glaring at Mei for a split second before pouting. "She interjected."

"He's my client." Mei muttered back, not looking up from her scribbling. She grabbed the napkin, looked at for a second before handing it to him. "We can work out some of the details later like overall design and color."

There were three things Izuku knew about from what he was holding. The first was that he was holding a napkin. The second was that it was by far the most highly detailed blueprint he had seen, and the third was that it was the most amazing thing that he had no idea what he was looking at.

"I think it looks great?" He shrugged.

Melissa leaned over to look at the napkin as well. He could feel her presence just lingering about him, the closeness was nice. Quite nice. "How on earth do you think you're going to accomplish this Mei?"

"My newest baby! It's going to be amazing I'm almost finished with it!" Mei looked at him, her crosshairs focusing on him. "Ahh, I'm so excited. You need to come to my lab tomorrow, oh, wait, you should come tonight, that way we can get some work done on your new suit!"

"Excuse me." Melissa huffed pushing back some of her hair. "Deku still hasn't decided which design he likes better."

"Huh? Oh, right, our competition. It doesn't matter, Izuku is going to pick my design." Mei waved Melissa off like she wasn't there and like she wasn't paying for their dinner. Wait, who _was_ paying?

"Mei," He said softly, holding a hand out to stop things from escalating.

"What is wrong with you?" Melissa glared from across the table. "You're an anti-social maniac that can't even remember the name of your own teammates, all you do is nothing but invent and be a nuisance."

"Melissa," He held out his other hand to try and stop her. Why were they fighting? This was supposed to be a nice dinner. "Please-"

"He's my client." Mei crossed her arms looking like a obstante twelve-year-old. "I've made all of his gear since we met in high school. I know that my babies will keep him safe."

"Safe? Half of your "babies" end in an explosion."

"Not the ones I give Izuku."

"But you've never made him a suit. My father made All Might's suits, and I want to carry on his legacy and make Deku's costume."

"He's not All Might. He's Izuku, and he's my client."

What on earth was he supposed to do here? They were arguing. "Can't we just get along?"

"What is he to you anyways? Why are you so obsessed with him, you probably have a hundred other heroes that would love to get a suit from you." Melissa's tone wasn't any kinder, but her voice was lower. "So why Izuku."

"I love him."

The silence that followed those three words draped over the entire world for what felt like minutes. There was a stillness in his mind, one that was on the verge of breaking as he looked at Mei, her own face a mask of serenity.

She did just say that right? He didn't mishear her. She loved him? And she said it so simply. So nonchalant, like it was nothing more than a comment on the weather. Yet it carried more weight than that. A lot more weight.

"I'm going." Mei stood and headed towards the door, not quite running, but far faster than any walk.

"Wait, Mei!" He tried to go after her but the small tug on his sleeve from Melissa stopped him. She was biting her lip. She didn't look angry or annoyed, if anything, she looked defeated. "What?"

"I just." She bit her lip and sighed. "Part of the reason why I called you out here was to see if we could start a relationship. I know this is a bad time, but I really do like you."

Really? Two confessions in one night, each coming from one of the most amazing women he knew? He had to be dreaming. Wait, dreams weren't this complicated. Dammit. "I uhh."

Melissa smiled and let go of his sleeve. "Go talk to Mei, I'll take care of the bill. I just wanted you to know that before. Yea."

"Thanks. Thank you Melissa. I- Ahh, dammit, we'll talk later." He breathed through his nose and headed out the door. It shouldn't be too hard to find Mei. She might not be tall but she had an undeniable presence about her that drew attention like flies to honey.

But I-Island was foreign to him, she could have taken any number of back routes or just entered another building. He looked down the long broad street. It was largely barren, with no sign of Mei on either end. Dammit. Why now? How was he supposed to respond to all this?

"Mei!" He cupped his hands shouting, hoping that she'd respond to him. She didn't look sad, but this was Mei, and she didn't seem like she was in love with him either. Still nothing, which way did she go? Where was her lab? Did she go back to her garage? "Mei!"

"Behind you." Mei's voice was soft and could barely be heard over the roaring wind. She was leaning against the wall of the restaurant, still in her lovely blue dress and her hair fell over one of her eyes. She smiled for a second. "Sorry about that. I guess I really do have a problem with speaking my mind."

"There's nothing wrong with that, Mei." He walked over to her and held out a hand. "Do you want to talk?"

She looked at his hand for a few breathless seconds before looking up into his eyes. "Not really."

Mei took his hand, hers were large for her size and just as callous as his. "But I think I should."

"Okay, and don't worry about Melissa she uhh, she, she understands and she'll take care of the bill." He gestured down the street. There was a rush from holding Mei's hand that he hadn't thought would be there. "Do you not like her or something?"

Mei let out a growl and a pout. "It's not that. Just the way she acts and looks at you reminds me of that other girl."

Other girl? Did she mean Ochako? It was the only person he could think of. "And that makes you not like her."

"Yea," she nodded pulling him down a different street, this one was smaller and was flanked by one of the many artificial parks that dotted the island. "I don't know when it happened. Or why. But as happy as I was making new babies, I started to get happier when I was making them for you. I didn't think anything of it and just assumed you asked for neat stuff."

"But then you started to date that other girl. That first week I didn't even make anything; That's when I realized why making new babies for you made me so happy. I liked you. A lot. You talked to me like I was human, I remembered your name, you were on my mind a lot. I wanted to talk to you more, but she was always with you." Mei took in a deep breath and held it tight for a few moments before she let it out with a defeated groan. "That's part of the reason why I moved to I-Island. To escape from hearing about you and her."

"Mei, I'm, I'm sorry, I should have, I should have talked to you more." He flinched, trying not to think about Ochako. How would things be different if he talked to Mei more back then?

She gave a laugh that was halfway to a sob and pushed some of her hair back behind her ear. "I know it's wrong but when you said that you were single today I was actually really happy. But so was Melissa. I shouldn't have noticed that. I shouldn't have even cared, but I did."

"I know, she told me before I came after you." What on earth was he going to do about this?

"That might have been why I blurted it out like that. Maybe I wanted to be the first." Mei groaned and scratched the back of her head. "I don't really know. I'm not good at this whole emotion thing, making babies is so much easier. Especially for you."

They came to a stop in front of one of the large multi storied buildings that overlooked the park.

Mei turned to him and grabbed his other hand. "But I don't think that's good enough anymore. Izuku."

She didn't hesitate. She closed the distance between them and kissed him. Her chest pressed into his for a few tender seconds. He felt it. He felt that jolt that came from kissing someone he cared about. That spine-tingling numbness that left his mind swimming in a sea of fog.

"Mei," he whispered as they parted, she bounced back down and didn't let go of his hands. That kiss must have done something because somehow Mei was even more attractive. He wanted to kiss her again. Only his thoughts weighed him down enough to stop him from doing just that.

"Sorry." She placed a single hand over her mouth, barely hiding her growing smile. "I wanted to do that to you for a while. I should have asked. You haven't even said how you feel about me."

"It's okay, I'm not mad. To be honest, I thought about doing the same to you a few times at U.A. And even when we met today. I've always thought you were attractive. But I just didn't think you were capable of human emotions like that." He squeezed the single hand he still held and smiled. The only thing that had stopped him from going further now was what Melissa said, and how he felt about her.

Mei snorted. "Me neither, but for you I am. Now I have a selfish request."

"What is it?"

She looked at the building behind them and smiled. "My apartment is up there. I don't use it much besides clothes but there's some stuff in there. Can you stay with me? Just for tonight? Or whenever you want, but I'll only ask for tonight. Please?"

This unsure, human side of Mei was downright adorable. But could he really go through with this? With things being unresolved with Melissa?

No. That wouldn't be fair to anybody.

"I'm sorry Mei, but I can't. I need to think about all this. I really want to, but I just can't. Not right now okay?" He let go of her hand and took a step back. "Go get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow and you can show me your lab, alright?"

"Okay. I should learn what to do if you do stay over before that happens." She closed the distance between them again and leaped up, stealing a kiss he wasn't guarding. She then bounced down, heading towards her apartment. "See ya."

When he got back to his hotel room, he found it impossible to sleep.

**AN: Struggled writing this. There was supposed to be more time before anybody confessed but I just couldn't do it. Still I'm happy with how this came out. **


	4. Chapter 4

A knock sounded from his hotel room door.

"One second." He called, finally pushing himself out of bed. He wasn't really sure when or even if he had actually gone to sleep last night. But, it was morning now, and five messages waiting for him on his phone. Four were from Melissa and one was from Mei. He could check them after he woke up and dealt with his guest.

With a deep yawn he popped his neck and rolled his shoulders, at this point it was habit more than anything. So much for hitting the gym early in the morning. Still, maybe there's some super high tech gym he could convince someone to let him test or something.

"Hello," He opened the door and saw Melissa standing with her hands folded in front of her while she gripped her phone. She was wearing a blue short sleeved blouse with the top two buttons undone and a set of orange pants. Overall, she looked like she was ready for an adventure. "Good morning Melissa what's up?"

Besides the fact that she also had romantic feelings for him.

Her blue eyes went wide and she brought her hands up to her mouth as she looked him up and down. Her face growing redder by the second. "Oh my."

"Huh?" He looked down. He had underwear on. They weren't even that small, they were practically shorts. "Should I go get dressed?"

She nodded still not taking her eyes off of him.

"Do you want to wait for me inside?" He backed away leaving the door open and made his way over to his bag and grabbing his phone. It felt pretty good knowing that she was attracted to him bad enough that him being shirtless made her brain turned off. Maybe this was one of those weird cases where he had more experience in relationships than she did.

Wait wasn't that true for both girls?

How would Mei react to seeing him shirtless? She'd probably be excited about it. Or not, it was hard to tell what Mei was thinking.

"I honestly thought Mei would be in here." Melissa said softly as she sat down on the couch, she wasn't looking right at him anymore but the blush remained. "I'm a little relieved to be honest."

"Yea," probably shouldn't mention that she invited him to stay at her place and that he was really tempted. "I'm going to get dressed in the bathroom."

She nodded and he ducked into the bathroom.

Checking his phone, he saw several messages from Melissa, one asking him what happened, another where he was, another was good morning followed by one that she was heading to his hotel.

And then there was Mei's message.

It was a photo of her. In her underwear. Her plain, boring, practical underwear. She was standing in front of a mirror, her face was scrunched up in confusion. The text that came along with the photo almost made him laugh.

"Am I doing this right?"

"Yes," He texted back, still staring at her figure. "But, why did you send me that?"

He sat his phone down and focused on getting dressed. Hopefully there were no surprise formal dates again, he was already running out of clothes to wear, especially with his hero suit in disrepair. By the time his shirt was on his phone buzzed again.

A message from Mei.

"I read on the internet, it was a good idea. Did you like it?"

How could someone so smart be so innocent - and sexy - at the same time? "You shouldn't trust everything the internet tells you."

A bit hypocritical considering how "How to date" was his most searched term for a year after he got in his first relationship.

"And yes, I did like it. Thank you." He felt his face heat up as he admitted that. The temptation to save it was strong. But that might be creepy.

His pants were on and he was about to head out the door when his phone buzzed again.

"Great! I'll send more later! It's exciting."

He stuffed his phone into his pocket before he could think to much about that comment. Despite the fact that it was probably going to be swimming around in his mind whenever he stopped thinking about something. He could talk to Mei later, Melissa was here for him now.

"And I still need to figure all this out." He sighed and walked out into his hotel room. Melissa was still sitting there hands folded in front of her in that unsure awkward position that he had taken many times before. "So, what's up Melissa?"

"Oh!" She jumped in surprise despite having held eye contact with him since he left the bathroom. She rubbed her hands together and took a breath. "Well, I just wanted to know exactly where things stand. I mean, last night wasn't how I thought things would happen and I had wanted to take things slower. But when she said what she did, I... I didn't want my chance to vanish."

He should have figured that's what she wanted. It was what he wanted too. "I wish I had an answer for you."

The couch sunk down lower than he thought it would when he sat down next to Melissa. There was a lot of space between them. It was filled with uncertainty, just far enough so nobody would think anything of it, but close enough that no one could sit between them. It didn't make much sense in private. But it was where they stood.

More than friends, and close to something more.

"I don't even know what to do when one girl tells me she likes me let alone two at the same time." He leaned back staring up at the ceiling. "I know being indecisive isn't fair to you or Mei. And I have been thinking about this. Like a lot. I know that Mei likes me a lot, and that she basically told me why she likes me. But, I don't know how or when you started liking me, or how much."

"I'm not sure either. At least for how much I like you. I know that I've always thought you were cute, and that if you had asked me out on a date even back when we first met I would have said yes." She laughed placing a hand in the forbidden zone between them. "Or at least, I would have been happy but I probably would have done something embarrassing. But, I know what made me realize it."

"When we beat Wolfram?" That sounded kind of romantic, her falling in love with him after he saved her father.

"Nope, I actually realized it during All Might's funeral. Seeing you just made me feel a sense of hope I didn't know I was missing. I was happy seeing you. And, it stung when I found out you were taken." she shook her head and sighed. "That makes me sound like I was jealous. And I might have been. But I was happy for you. And as bad as it sounds I was even happier when I found out you two broke up."

She turned to look at him and tucked some of her short blond hair back behind her ear. "So, I guess my answer is a while and kind of a lot."

Was it wrong that hearing all that made him really happy? But was that more than the happiness that Mei's confession made him feel?Was there even a right choice? The only wrong choice was not making a choice.

"Thanks for telling me all that Melissa. Truth is I thought you were the most beautiful girl I've ever seen when we first met. It made me really nervous. But I found it easy to talk to you." The problem is that he can talk to Mei just as easy. "I don't want to lead you on. But, just give me a bit of time to figure this out?"

"That's fine Izuku, I waited years for this chance, I can wait a bit longer for your answer." She scooted closer, their hips all but touching as she looked him in the eyes. Pure deep blue, like a perfectly still ocean pierced into him and hooked his soul, dragging it out to the surface. "But, can I ask for a kiss? It doesn't have to mean anything. But, I want to know if I'll feel anything."

He nodded. "Sure."

She moved slowly and he moved to meet her. Their lips met and he felt that familiar jolt of kissing a girl he liked. The spark traveled to his fingers and sent his hands forward to grab her shoulders and kiss her more. For the few glorious seconds that it lasted his mind was clear.

Then his phone vibrated and he was brought back to reality.

His breath was short and he stared at Melissa. Trying to figure out what he was supposed to say to her after that. Trying to compare the kiss to Mei's trying to not feel guilty. It wasn't cheating. But it still felt wrong.

"Well, unfortunately for you, I felt something in that kiss." Melissa sat back down next to him, her face was a soft shade of red that only added to her beauty. "Did you?"

He nodded before placing his head in his hands. "Yeah."

"And you kissed Mei last night didn't you?" Her voice was soft.

"Yeah."

"And I guess you felt something then too?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry for putting you through this Izuku. This really isn't how I pictured this week going." She sighed, placing her hand on his back and rubbing softly. It was almost like she was petting him. "Ideally we would have kissed after a date or something. This whole thing has my head spinning and I feel like I'm racing against a maniac."

"Mei's really not that bad. She comes off as rough around the edges, because she is. But once you take the time to understand her, I think you'd actually like her." He doubted it would help him make his choices if the two were friends. But, he didn't want either one to end up alone. Sure they could both get by just fine on their own, but Mei needed someone to check on her, and Melissa probably needed someone to add some variation to her life.

Melissa huffed. "Are you really asking me to be friends with my current love rival? Not to mention she's just so wild."

"I know, I know, but, just give her a chance. I think you two could be great friends. And as good as you two are at support I just know that you two would be even more amazing together." He smiled at her before standing. He needed to do something. Something that could clear his mind. "I'm going to find a good gym to work out at and think. But I'll meet up with you later alright?"

"Sure, do you think we can meet up for dinner? Without Mei?" She stood with him, straightening her clothes.

"Ha, we'll see, but for some reason I feel like it's my responsibility to make sure she remembers to eat. But I would like to eat with you tonight."

"You're lucky you being so sweet and caring is part of the reason why I like you so much."

XXXX

What on earth was she doing here? She should have just followed Izuku and joined him at the gym. But then she'd be staring at him shirtless and he'd know that she didn't really work out at all! What if he wasn't attracted to her body? She shook her head and slapped her cheeks. No, Izuku wasn't the kind of person to worry about that.

But what if it was the deciding factor between her and Mei?

No! Bad brain!

Izuku probably needed a bit of time alone right now. She'd probably need it if she was in his shoes. Having two close friends confess their feelings at the same time had to be rough.

Which was why she was here at Mei's development lab. It was a plain, ordinary building, just like any of the other labs in the area save for the covered box filled with gadgets being guarded by one of Mei's robots. It really made her feel pathetic.

Mei wasn't just prolific, it felt like everything she made was useful to someone or made something else obsolete. Amazing revolutionary tech, just sitting there in a collection box so people wouldn't bug her when she was working.

Melissa let her shoulder's slump as she stared at the box. She hadn't made anything of note in months. It was like she reached a standstill in what she could do on her own outside of improving her father's tech. Maybe she could figure out how Mei did it.

Squaring her shoulders she walked into the workshop. There were even more projects and designs littering the initial entry way. She couldn't guess what half of them were or how they worked. This must be how people that weren't from the island felt when they came for the first time.

She entered the main room of the workshop. It was cleaner than she thought it would be, with several blueprints making up the walls, and a few projects halfway assembled. A hammock was tied in the corner, along with a miniature fridge - it had arms and legs - and something that was currently humming like a washing machine. A drone flew by snapping pictures of something.

It was Mei.

An almost entirely naked Mei awkwardly striking a post with one hand behind her head, the other just hung there. First she had seen Izuku shirtless and had been reassured that she found muscular men very attractive. Now she was staring at Mei with the same curiosity she felt in the highschool locker rooms.

How were they so big? And perky! With her waist that thin?

More importantly what on earth was she doing?

"Mei?" She asked wincing as she walked forward, trying to take her eyes off of the shorter woman. "What are you doing?"

"Huh?" Mei looked over to her and blinked, she didn't even bother to try and cover herself. "I'm taking pictures for Izuku while I work on a project. Hey can you tell me if these look good? I'm not sure if Izuku is just being nice."

Mei made a gesture and the drone flew over to Melissa stopping a few feet in front of her face. It shifted and a monitor appeared on the drone displaying pictures of Mei posing. Some of them were hot, some were goofy, but most were just plain awkward.

"How many are you going to send him?" She pushed the drone away and walked over to Mei. She wasn't affected by the other woman's near nakedness anymore. Wait, no, she was. Dammit. Why was she even here?

Mei shrugged, her chest bouncing with the motion before she spun and walked over to her bench to work on some project and not to get dressed. "I've sent him three so far. He said he liked them. And it's fun. But why are you here?"

That's what she wanted to know.

"Izuku suggested that I get to know you." She joined Mei at the work station, it wasn't anything like she had seen before, instead of something physical, it almost looked like she was working with some kind of a dust next to a computer. "What are you working on?"

"I've been working on this baby for years!" Mei's smile was as close to mad scientist as she could get without being completely unhinged. She tapped a few buttons on the computer and the dust moved, turning into a simple shirt as it shifted colors and design. "Or should I say Babies! It's an adaptive programmable fabric that I'm going to use to make Izuku's costume."

Melissa felt her mouth drop. She was just going to use standard material and focus on the design elements of the costume. Mei, as she did with all things was going above and beyond. A fabric like this could not only help Izuku a great deal, but also revolutionize the way hero costumes were designed. "That's amazing Mei, you could even add features to it such as tightening around an arm to set a bone or stop bleeding."

"That's part of the plan, I'm going to include a system that will allow my healing spray to be automatically applied." Mei tapped on the computer once again, the crosshairs of her eyes shifting as she used her quirk. "The problem having it know where to send the spray and how much."

"We could give it a central brain. Something that Izuku can control." She pulled out a portable holo board and began to draw the design with her finger. "If you put it around the hip he'll be able to change settings like it's items on a utility belt additionally, I've been working on reducing my bio scanner to something about this size, that'll give the system the knowledge it needs to be reactive to injuries."

"Oh!" Mei flailed her arms and darted over to another section of the lab and grabbed a pair of glasses, they were large and circular. "We can also feed the info into a sleeker version of these, these babies create an unobtrusive display that can show pretty much anything. That way Izuku can know when he breaks his arm!"

"If we're going that route, why not see if we can add infrared and night vision to them? Do you think the cloth could be rearranged into a gas mask?"

"Oh! Good idea! Let's get to work!"

"Shouldn't you put clothes on first?"

"What? Oh. Nah, I'm comfortable like this. Besides, getting dressed is a waste of time when there are babies to be made!"

She did have a point.

**AN: This fic is not going to "Plan." It was supposed to be another "Long" fic liked Fist to Fist was, but at this point I don't think I'll be able to get to 20k. Oh well, I'd rather have a good short fic than a crappy long one!**

**I hope you all have a wonderful day! And please review! **


	5. Chapter 5

There were many things Izuku had expected when he walked into Mei's lab. Mei asleep, Mei working on something while she ignored Melissa, one of them crying, maybe a black eye or something. He didn't think that either of them would hurt each other, but he was still ever so slightly worried. He really didn't even expect Melissa to actually go see Mei.

So when he walked in on a mostly naked Mei with a very high tech looking flame thrower strapped to her back blasting out a stream of flames so white that it hurt to look. The object getting hit by the flame was a thing. He didn't know exactly what that thing was as it was currently being roasted by fire so intense even Shoto would have a hard time matching it.

The flames came to an abrupt halt and the entire room dimmed as though the sun had been swallowed up. A moment later and his eyes readjusted, overall the lab was undamaged, saved for the wall opposite of Mei that now had a large black mark. Most if not all of the damage done was centralized to a now half melted metal pillar that was still glowing red. Still chained to it was a piece of cloth that looked completely undamaged.

"How's it look?" Mei half yelled as she flung her goggles off, undoing the first few straps of the flame thrower with ease. Shouldn't she be wearing protective gear? Wait, this was the girl that had a habit of surviving explosions while wearing a tanktop. Maybe she was mildly heat resistant. Or something.

Melissa popped out from some other area, he was mildly surprised to see her actually dressed properly. As in she had on the same shirt and pants that she was wearing earlier, all things considered it was perhaps marginally more protective than Mei's bra. With one hand she moved towards the cloth testing for heat. Then she grabbed it.

"It's completely cool!" She reached inside of it and pulled out a device of some kind device that beeped twice at her touch. Her face lit up as she looked towards Mei. "Internal temperature only increased by thirty degrees during the test."

"Ohh, that's better than I thought!" Mei bounced over to Melissa leaving the flamethrower behind like it was some old toy. Seriously, why wasn't she dressed? At this point he was going to become numb doing seeing her mostly - oh, wow she had really nice thighs, and butt - naked. Wait. No. He probably wasn't going to ever get tired of that. Dammit. "With results like that Izuku will be able to withstand the heats of most structure fires, and have a better chance against heat and electric based quirks."

"I have to say this material you developed is impressive!" Melissa handed the cloth to Mei. "It's programmable nature makes it hyper adaptive. Now we just need to start making the actual suit. Can you handle that while I work on the display and head piece?"

"Sure! Do you have an idea for-"

"Uhh, excuse me?" He half laughed walking up to the two girls before they got lost in their project. Well Mei would, Melissa might be polite enough to stop. But she hadn't noticed him walk in either so, it was up in the air. Best be careful to avoid questioning their new found friendship. "What are you two working on?"

"And why aren't you wearing clothes?" He said to Mei's breasts.

"Oh! I was going to send you more pictures. But Melissa showed up and we started to work on your new suit!" Mei waved him off looking at the material, and still not answering his question.

"She refused to put clothes on." Melissa muttered her face now the appropriate level of blush for being in the company of a mostly naked Mei. Her eyes frantically scanned both him and Mei and she grew just the slightest bit more flustered. "And I got caught up in developing the new suit that I stopped noticing. Well I did notice. But I just."

Melissa slammed both hands into her face and let out a puff, her mind clearly being overworked by sheer embarrassment. It was a really cute reaction all things considered. He always thought of her as being more mature and reserved than he was, so this side of her was just beyond cute.

"It was a waste of time anyways." Mei turned and half sprinted over to a workstation, where she began to put on a large helmet like followed by large metallic gloves that glowed a soft blue as the machine behind her started up. "If I put clothes on then we wouldn't have finished testing! It's almost done! You're going to love our baby!"

"Our baby?" He asked looking from Mei doing Mei stuff as the machine blocked and moved the material to Melissa as she began the process of recovering. "You two went from competing over who would design my new suit and refusing to work together to doing just that? What happened?"

"Mei's excitement is contagious," Melissa pushed her hair back into place and shook her head. She took a small breath and looked up at him, her blue eyes were sparkling with far more joy than that had that morning. And her smile sent a chill down his spine. "And her design was much better than mine. But there were improvements I could make. So I ended up working with her."

"Well, now I'm even more excited to see what you two make together. You know Mei had a problem with working with others. She must like you if she was willing to let you in on the project."

"I think if I had given her a chance before that we could have been great friends." Melissa bit her thumb, face pointed at the ground as she looked up at him. "But we're both in love with you, so that causes a small problem. We talked about it a bit, I don't think either one of us wants to back down."

"I don't have to be in a relationship. If it means that you two can keep being friends and making new tech for heroes, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." He'd end up kicking himself some nights. But maybe it was the best choice he had. His workout had been longer and more intense than usual, as he kept thinking about this choice he had to make. It felt so impossible. Not because he didn't think that he would be happier with one or the other, but because he couldn't be happy knowing that someone else was sad because of his choice.

Maybe if he had more time then the choice would be more obvious.

He felt like such a coward for not being able to make a choice. They both deserved better than that.

Melissa remained silent, still biting onto her thumb. After a moment she walked over to one of Mei's work stations, she grabbed a similar glove to Mei's and began to work with the machine a vague head shape appeared on a nearby screen.

Was she upset?

Dammit.

"He doesn't wear his mask that often, so we're going to have to create some quick cover system that'll draw it up." Melissa muttered towards Mei. "The storage system shouldn't be different from the rest of the costume due to the circuitry."

"Good idea, we should also find out someway to keep his hair floofy when it takes it off." Mei muttered back at her. Her usual chipper tone was ever so slightly off. She heard him too. "I like his floof."

"Me too."

"What about an amulet? Of some kind. I'd say a collar but apparently that's kinky and not very heroic like."

"Do you know what that means or is that just something you read online?"

"I know what it means because of the internet."

"Amulet it is. I can partially divide some of the some of the functions between it and the belt. Because of movies most people associate comms with controls near the head, would be more obvious but probably more intuitive."

The spark and joy of the creation process he had walked in on earlier somehow felt muted. Choosing one would make the other upset. Choosing neither made them both upset. This really sucked.

"Hey, why don't you two take a break and we can go out to eat again? I saw this burger place next to the gym that smelled really good on my way back from the gym. I bet you two are hungry after working so much." Knowing Mei she probably hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. And Melissa probably hadn't eaten since this morning if she was working with Mei. "That does mean you'll have to get dressed Mei."

"Pass!" Mei shouted, still not looking at him. "I want to get this baby finished as soon as possible. If we can get it ready for the Expo we'll be able to have you demo it. You're okay with being shot and and walking through fire right?"

"Uhh, sure." Apparently, it was bullet proof too. "How about I go get us something then?"

"Oh!" Mei turned to him and lifted up her goggles for a second. Her eyes were out of focus. "I know, why don't you use my kitchen to cook us dinner?"

She pulled up a remote and clicked it, a seamless door in the wall opened up revealing a simple, but incredibly clean kitchen. "There's no fridge, but there are hydroponic gardens with vegetables I was designing for space flight. They're edible."

"At Least they should be." she nodded her head and the goggles fell back into place.

"Oh, Uhh okay." He took a breath and looked at the two girls working in silent diligence. Maybe focusing on work was just what they needed?

XXXX

Mei bit her lip the moment Izuku vanished out of sight. He was right in more than one way. Unlike everybody she'd come across on the Island and even U.A., Melissa was someone that she could work with. On an intellectual level. She even remembered her name! That was rare to say the least.

But, if he chose Melissa over her, then she doubted they could be friends. She doubted she could even be on I-Island. She'd probably take the nearest rocket to space and live on the space station until she died or maybe even mars. There'd be less distractions there.

And if Izuku chose her, there was no way that Melissa would be willing to stay friends. Sure she could just throw herself into her work and just ignore her. But whenever she tried to sleep, or saw her in public. Or maybe even when she saw Izuku. She would think about Melissa. And that sting.

Somehow Izuku choosing neither of them made her mad.

There had to be something they could do. Someway that everybody could be happy. Wait. Was that an option?

"Hey, Melissa." She muttered, after making sure that Izuku wasn't to close. "I think I have an idea. About Izuku."

The blond haired girl beside her turned, an 3-D anger scribble floated right beside her hood design for Izuku, and the idea of storing the hood in a set of bunny ears. "That we make his costume ridiculous?"

"What? No. Just listen."

XXXX

"I hope you both like Salad. There really wasn't any meat in there." He gave an awkward laugh as he walked out into Mei's workshop with three bowls of salad. The equipment in there had been so impressive he was afraid of touching anything. "And I'm not the best cook anyways."

He had only been gone thirty minutes but already the mood felt different. The cold indifference that both girls had was replaced by something warmer but even more muted. Mei was grinning ear to ear as she worked on her project, it was much larger now, looking like it could probably cover his legs and torso. While Melissa was still working on the design, specifically what looked like lens.

Maybe he should excuse himself after they ate.

"Rabbit food is fine." Mei took off a single gauntlet, the other moving twice as fast while she began to work it single handedly. She took a bowl and lifted it towards her mouth and began munching on a large bit of lettuce. "Ooh, crispy."

"That'll do, Izuku, thank you. It makes up for the salad we neglected last night." Melissa took hers and the set of utensils with it. She actually stopped working.

"Ha, I guess you're right." He was going to need to make up the calories though.

They ate in silence that only he seemed to be unnerved by. But instead of Mei's and Melissa's calmness making him feel better it only added to it.

"I think, after I do the dishes I should leave you two be." His chuckle sounded as pathetic as his voice. "I'd really just be in the way and-"

"Actually," Mei pushed back her goggles and smiled at him. "After this I was thinking about watching some movies. You should join us Izuku."

"Us? Wait, you want to take a break?"

"I talked her into it." Melissa smiled at both of them. "I think a bit of relaxation, junk food and popcorn is just what we need. But if you want to, maybe you could go get some of that stuff in a bit?"

Something felt off. Really off. But if they both agreed to it. There shouldn't be any problems with it should there?

**AN: Something's going to happen next chapter!**

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